1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to steroidal derivatives of glycolipids, in which steroids are bridged, via a medium length hydrocarbon chain, to 1-thio-D-mannopyranoses or 1-thio-L-fucopyranoses that protect an immunocompromised host, particularly resulting from an AIDS-related virus, against opportunistic infection.
2. Brief Description of Disclosures in the Art
The search for new immunostimulator agents for augmenting host defenses to combat infection, cancer and congenital immunodeficiency disorders is an increasingly important area of pharmaceutical endeavor particularly as it relates to AIDS-related viruses.
Seven years ago few had ever heard of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. This puzzling affliction, then seen in only a small number of young, homosexual men, was something new and unnamed. Today, it's hard to find anyone in the U.S. who hasn't heard of AIDS, the disease that can debilitate and then kill its victim with horrific swiftness.
AIDS has come to be recognized as a public health emergency. More than 27,700 American men, women, and children have been stricken by it; the death toll is 16,000 and rising. The U.S. Public Health Service predicts that by the end of 1991 more than 179,000 persons will have succumbed to the disease.
Thus far, there is no cure for AIDS.
Technically, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a transmissible deficiency of cellular immunity characterized by opportunistic infections and certain rare malignancies. The dominant risk groups for AIDS include homosexually active males, intravenous drug abusers, recipients of transfusions and blood products, and the heterosexual partners and children of high-risk individuals, suggesting the involvement of an infectious agent transmitted through intimate contact or blood products.
Recent evidence indicates that the infectious agent responsible for disease transmission is a novel lymphotropic retrovirus, currently designated HIV-I (human immunodeficiency virus) and also known as lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV) (Barre-Sinoussi et al., Science 220: 868 (1983)). Similar viruses have been reported by other scientific groups (Popovic et al., Science 224: 497 (1984); Levy et al. Science 225: 840 (1984)) and designated human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III), AIDS-associated retrovirus (ARV), or immune deficiency-associated virus (IDAV). Still more recent data indicates that LAV, HTLV-III, ARV and IDAV share several important characteristics, including substantial nucleotide homology (Wain-Hobson et al., Cell 40: 9 (1985); Muesing et al., Nature 313: 450 (1985); Sanchez-Pescador et al., Science 227: 484 (1985)), and should be considered isolates of the same virus, although there is a likelihood that strain-to-strain variations among the viral isolates will exist. In addition to exhibiting substantial nucleotide homology, the isolates are similar with respect to morphology, cytopathology, requirements for optimum reverse transcriptase activity, and at least some antigenic properties (Levy, supra: Schupbach et al., Science 224: 503 (1984)). The above materials are hereby incorporated by reference to characterize the phrase "AIDS-related virus".
Glycolipids are known in the immunological and pharmaceutical arts, e.g. M. M. Ponpipom et al., in "Liposomes Technology Vol. III, Targeted Drug Delivery and Biological Interactions", ed. by G. Gregoriadis, CRC Critical Reviews, Ch. 7, pp. 95-115.
Steroidal glycosidic compounds are known in the art as being useful immunological adjuvants. For example see, U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,324; U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,441; U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,471 (all three patents being assigned to Merck & Co., Inc.); Carbohydrate Res. 67, pp. 55-63 (1978) by J. C. Chabala and T. Y. Shen; J. Med. Chem. 23, p. 1184-1188 (1980) by M. M. Ponpipom et al.; and Can. J. Chem. 58, pp. 214-220 (1980) by M. M. Ponpipom et al.
Glycosides are also known in the art for exhibiting pharmacological effects. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,274; Chem. Pharm. Bull. Jap., 12, 528-532 (1964); and Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 78, No. 12, pp. 7294-7298 (1981).
Another reference, J. Med. Chem., 15, pp. 1284-1287 (1972), describes synthesis of epimeric 20-and 22-azacholesterols as potential therapeutic mediators for hyperfunctioning adrenal glands.
However, the above disclosures do not specifically describe glycolipids bearing steroidal substituents for use as host resistance enhancing agents, i.e., immunostimulators specifically to viral infection in immunocompromised hosts.